We Got the Supply. Where's the Demand?

Remember: December is "Spread the Blove" month. If you enjoy these blog posts, won't you share this with a nearby friend, family member or neighbor? It's a great way to stay in touch between newsletters of the W. 102nd & 103rd Streets Block Association. So tip off a neighbor who can then receive local news directly to his or her email by just filling in an email address at the bottom of each post.

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By Caitlin Hawke

Anyone who has lived here for, say, over 10 years knows of the sea change at the retail level on Broadway. Gone are the fabulous mini-neighborhoods of the Upper West Side. I have recollections of typical Saturdays running around doing my local errands, dropping snow boots off to be waterproofed, buying a fillet of salmon at a fish monger like Joon's, or a lamb shank at Oppenheimer Meats, stopping in at the greengrocer on the east side of Broadway for veggies and then across the street at the Korean deli for a bunch of flowers before heading home to prepare dinner for friends. Or a winter Sunday afternoon spent at the Metro or Olympia cinemas. Or a lazy morning at a local coffee house like Au Petit Beurre, contentedly watching Broadway walk by while other patrons idled around playing backgammon.

Those were the days of lower commercial rents, to be sure. (They were also the days before etailers and mega-chains.) And each 10 blocks or so had a micro-economy, the backbone of which was a squaredealing Ma and Pa, business owners who knew their clientele and ran their own show.

We are quite fortunate in that there are still quite a few Mom & Pops left between W. 96th and 106th Streets on Broadway (see my P.S. below). Some are merchants of longstanding, anchoring their corners. Others are more recent arrivals. We need them all. But each time we lose one, it hurts. I'll write more on this in the next post.

So, have you, like me, been walking up and down Broadway and other of our avenues wondering both how do those small businesses that still exist hang on, and where have all the erstwhile Moms and Pops gone to work now? The vacancies are so bad that the New York Times ran a November 19th editorial about why New York's -- and particularly the Upper West Side's -- storefronts lie dormant.

Fueled by data gathered by City Council member Helen Rosenthal, the Times piece cited a declining retail occupancy rate in an area her office surveyed: of 1,332 storefronts censused, 161 were vacant.

The graphic at right shows a doubling in the last ten years of the vacancy rates on Broadway and Amsterdam. Helen called this vacancy trend a threat to our sense of community. And I tend to agree. You can read her small-business survey from November and dig into the details for yourself.

Is there some baked-in incentive in commercial real estate to keep stores empty and subvert basic supply-and-demand tenets? What happened to rents that fell until a tenant was found? Has it been replaced by "hedge fund urbanism" a speculative way to keep rents high? What is going on here?

But it's not just the empties. Further changing our streetscape, national chains have doubled since the last survey ten years ago; these chains now occupy 40% (up from 17% in 2007) of the storefrontage along the UWS stretch of Broadway. As rents rise, the presence of national and local chains will continue to be strong -- who else can afford unregulated and artificially-inflated commercial rents? (Yes, supply-and-demand subverters, I am looking at you.) Methinks there is a connection.

Relief might be in reach. Starting in July 2018, the threshold that triggers the Commercial Rent Tax (CRT) in Manhattan will double thanks to a brand new City Council reform. So any business whose annual rent is below $500,000 will not have to pay CRT. This is definitely a step in the right direction with some 2000 businesses poised to benefit from this tax relief. But without even more protections, we might as well all help Ma and Pa pack.

Seriously, $500,000 is the rent threshold for the CRT. Think about what a small business would have to gross just to cover half that overhead: it's 3500 fresh juices at $6 a pop every 30 days. Or the monthly sale of 1000 lbs. of salmon fillets.

Just. To. Pay. Rent.

I'm not saying every cobbler, juicery or fishmonger pays a quarter mil in rent each year, but many small businesses do. So we ought not be surprised when they go *poof!* when a massive rent increase hits them. And, more importantly, we need to do our part to support them while they are still here both with our wallets and our voices.

There are a lot of bloggers chronicling disappearances, especially this one, the gold standard, by the indomitable Jeremiah Moss. I also appreciate that Mom & Pop news outlets like the West Side Rag keep us abreast. Its founder and editor, Avi, has been bringing attention to commercial rent issues when he gets the chance, and the Rag's column "Openings & Closings" often cites rent hikes as the culprit that precipitates the death of a shuttering business. The tumbleweed storefront often follows in swift succession.

P.S. This is a big topic. So my next post will have more on the theme of the loss of Mom & Pops, with a hat tip to Avi over at the Rag whose coverage led me to my next topic. Also, for a future post, I am thinking celebrating the Mom & Pops on Broadway and Amsterdam from 96th to 106th and on our side streets from West End to Amsterdam. Have a particular favorite? Send me an email and tell me why you're a fan: blog@w102-103blockassociation.org. Better yet, send me a photo of the shop's facade. Mom & Pop's should be small owner-run, independent one-offs, i.e. not chains or franchises and no corporate backing.

Living is Easy with Eyes Closed, Misunderstanding All You See

Remember: December is "Spread the Blove" month. If you enjoy these blog posts, won't you share this with a nearby friend, family member or neighbor? It's a great way to stay in touch between newsletters of the W. 102nd & 103rd Streets Block Association. So tip off a neighbor who can then receive posts directly to his or her email by just filling in an email address at the bottom of each post.

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By Caitlin Hawke

I am going to keep it simple today. December 8th is seared into many a New Yorkers' mind. I got a chill looking at the front page above. The GOP was prepping a transition to the White House. There were Russian hijinks on the international stage. A man was shot in New York City.

John Lennon. Gunned down outside the Dakota. If you were a New Yorker, you can't forget it. If you weren't yet a New Yorker, you know exactly where you were when you heard the news 37 years ago. It doesn't matter. We were all New Yorkers that day.

I don't want to get too heavy. But we still need elegies in the face of senseless violence. I am reminded of a statistic I read in the paper: since the song below was written in '68 we've lost more Americans to gun violence than to the battlefields of all the wars in our history. Then again I suppose it's all in how you define "battlefield."

In remembrance of 12/8/80, I offer up an extremely rare gem: Clydie King and her husband Elston Gunn (aka Blind Boy Grunt, aka Robert Zimmerman) covering Dion's 1968 hit "Abraham, Martin and John" by Dick Holler. A stripped down, harmonic, elegiac duet. I mean for it to stop us all in our tracks.

On this raw day, thirty seven years late, I give you a power couple and a song I dedicate to the memory of a long lost neighbor.

Xi'an Famous Foods at Four

Remember: December is "Spread the Blove" month. If you enjoy these blog posts, won't you share this with a nearby friend, family member or neighbor? It's a great way to stay in touch between newsletters of the W. 102nd & 103rd Streets Block Association. So tip off a neighbor who can then receive local news directly to his or her email by just filling in an email address at the bottom of each post.

Love the Blog? Spread the Blove!

By Caitlin Hawke

The famous terracotta army near Xi'an

When the words famous and Xi'an are used in the same sentence, most people think of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum and the awesome 2,200 year-old terracotta army that ferried this first Chinese Emperor to the big unknown.

In other words, food is not the first famous association that springs forth. But Xi'an Famous Foods (XFF) is out to change that in NYC, taking the city by storm with a "chain-let" of nine shops.

At present, the XFF just south of W. 102nd on the west side of Broadway is the northernmost outpost of the lot.

I knew about their original store, a slice of a shop on St. Mark's Place back in the day when hipster food options weren't encroaching this far up. Hard to believe that was 12+ years ago. A couple of times, I dropped in for some hand-pulled and scrumptiously chewy noodles. The ones I liked were knobbly and drenched in spicy oil, tossed with ground lamb. The noodles were a great once-in-a-while treat, but you gotta wanna ingest all that spice, sit on a stool, and get tossed all around by the hubbub. The thrill wore off quickly.

Then, a new XFF opened exactly four years ago on December 7, 2013, in Bloomingdale.

Gratuitously, the XFF website disparages the neighborhood it moved into claiming the stretch of Broadway was "not so happening." And, golly, thanks to all those followers who came crawling from four corners to support them here in lil' ol' Bloomingdale.

The French have an expression for this perfect inelegance: "cracher dans la soupe" -- literally to spit in one's soup and figuratively to express contempt for something from which you derive a benefit. The site reads like an apologia for their cost-benefit analysis that this affordable rent district (albeit deathy, deathly unhip) was cheap enough to make it worth impinging on its clientele's comfort zone and profitable enough to take the space. I've seen trash talk of gentrifiers all over the city, and it is cringe producing.

I remember moving to Bloomingdale in the 90s after falling in love with the community and admiring the quiet stretch of Broadway only to have a friend tell me she got a nosebleed over 96th Street, or was it 86th Street. She lives near DC now -- outside the Beltway -- in altitudes that are favorable to her fragile nasal condition.

So to Xi'an, I say: embrace your community and blunt the "edgy" a little.

Whether Xi'an in fact moved north due four years ago due to the city's commercial rent climate or whether it led the nouvelle noodlevague, it has since been besieged by newcomers, many nipping at its heels for best cheap eats. Around B'dale today, if you throw a stone, you'll hit a stone hotpot. Each new eatery on the stretch between 96th and 116th seems to have an Asian flair, an upscale price point, a chowhoundy vibe. With Columbia reaching ever further southward, appealing to masses of undergraduates is now a must to stay alive if you are slinging fast slowfood.

But I digress. Let's get back to why XFF has made it to the neighborhood food feature I call "Hyper-Local Eats."

Years back, I thrilled at the idea of having XFF's handmade noodles on my home turf. We ordered in a couple of times, ate there once or twice. All good. Still somehow Xi'an didn't become a go-to spot. Yet they've endured. So today I turn the other cheek despite how bossy they can come off in their pursuit of converting us all to the pleasures of noodlehood:

Above is some strong advice from Xi'an's website

After visits to Szechuan Garden and their delectable cumin lamb dish (which I should say is not the dish it was when I wrote about it), I found that its combo of heat + lamb + cumin is something I love. And I recalled that Xi'an has another contender along the same lines.

So I write in celebration of a very special Hyper-Local Eat: Xi'an's spicy cumin lamb burger. A nosh under $6 that is truly, maddenly, deeply satisfying.

Caveat emptor: it is fiery. But if you tried and liked Szechuan Garden's cumin lamb (an earlier Hyper-Local Eats feature), the Xi'an burger clocks in at approximately the same heat.

This burger is, in fact, not a patty, but it does have a bun, which I'll get to shortly. The sandwich is a hill of shaved slices of tender lamb roughly chopped into a coarse picadillo-like or sloppy joe-ish filling that is then spooned into the bread pocket.

How does it taste? First salty. Then tangy. Then a rage of cumin and fire mix with the gamey lamb. Melted onions and snappy jalapeños round out the chewy hash to which an accelerant of chili oil is added just to make it pop.

Not even an ice-cold Coca-Cola can tame the tongue when this hits.

Enter the bun. It sops up the spicy drippings and provides a firewall to your tastebuds. The bread is not a bun you know. It's a denser cousin of an English muffin whose nooks and crannies went missing or seized up. Without a hint of richness, the bun stands bravely by to foil the oil.

If you think you can tolerate this degree of hipness mixed with this degree of heat, the spicy cumin lamb burger is a fine, fine eat in the neighborhood.

Now XFF, if you would just drop the pretense and lean into the fact that this wonderful community existed before you and will continue long after you are gone, in the interim we could all live together in umami harmony.

Seen on Broadway: Gluten-Free Trees. Coming Soon: No-carb Latkes!

By Caitlin Hawke

Remember: December is "Spread the Blove" month. If you enjoy these blog posts, won't you share this with a nearby friend, family member or neighbor? It's a great way to stay in touch between newsletters of the W. 102nd & 103rd Streets Block Association. So tip off a neighbor who can then receive local news directly to his or her email by just filling in an email address at the bottom of each post.

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Cheeky tannenbaum hawkers on Broadway will do anything to seal the deal.

I should explain that I gave up holiday decorations long ago after being traumatized by my first NYC roommate. I rented a room from a woman who couldn't let go of the trimmings well into March. It freaked me out a little. But then I moved and was liberated by the thought that I could take the holidays on my own terms. I know some folks feel quite strongly about these year-end festivities. So forgive me for saying that my ideal is to revamp everything and celebrate them like the quadrennial summer and winter Olympics: Thanksgiving once every four years, and your choice of December holiday once every four years. With two years off in between for reflection and absence aplenty to make the heart grow fonder.

But one event I refuse to leave unobserved is the winter solstice. I'll even celebrate a solstice twice a year. Unapologetically. (Some people in my family celebrate them four times a year, but that's another story.)

The solstices are the most enduring and common observances in the whole wide family of Homo sapiens sapiens.

In stark contrast to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade which has devolved into an unwatchable infomercial saturated with product placement, the actual solstice remains untainted by consumerism. That, in my book, is something to sing about!

So this December 21st, on the heels of that traffic-stopping eclipse which reminded us of our puny place on the third rock from the sun, come into the streets and sing. Come mittened. Come gloved. Come sing with your neighbors, known and unknown. Sing on your streets! Sing under windows and on stoops. Stand in the doorways and block up the halls. Sing out loud. Sing out strong. Sing off-key. Sing joyous or blue. Sing 2017 out.

And sing back all the light we cannot see.

Save the date and see you out there!
Thursday, December 21st at 7pm at 865 West End Avenue (W. 102nd Street).

Saxton Freymann and His Objet Trouvé Approach to Pumpkin Carving

A little prologue before I get to the post today because Thanksgiving is an obvious time to take stock and to enjoy pumpkin -- which I hope you all will. I am very thankful to live in Bloomingdale and be part of a wonderful community that continually surprises me. And I am particularly thankful to have a perch from which to celebrate that neighborhood, my muse for purposes of the Block Association blog, where the opinions expressed are my own.

I am also very thankful for this Block Association and to its board and volunteers for doing what they do. You only had to be in the street on October 31st to appreciate how much joy can come from a volunteer initiative. If you weren't, you'll get another chance with Solstice Caroling coming right up on December 21st.

To continue to knit the community and share news with neighbors, here on the Block Association blog December will be "Spread the Blove" month. If you've been enjoying these occasional posts, won't you share this with a nearby friend, family member or neighbor? The blog is a great way to stay in touch all year long with the W. 102nd & 103rd Streets Block Association. So tip off someone nearby. Send them the blog's address or point them to a favorite post. To receive news as it goes online directly to your email, just fill in the "Subscribe" box below. You'll receive a request to verify your subscription. And voilà!Just sit back and the next post will arrive to your inbox.

Most kids around here already know Saxton Freymann's work. For the past many years, Sax has donated a gourdgeous sculpted pumpkin to the Halloween festivities put on by the Block Association each October 31st. While compiling photos from this year's parade, I kept wondering who this pumpking was. And then Jane Hopkins -- who does such a wonderful job producing the event -- clued me in.

I decided to ask Sax a few questions and hope you'll enjoy this interview with a talented, generous neighbor. He's also provided some shots of past sculptures. And for you poodle lovers, my lagniappe is Sax's Broccoli dog. He's good and good for you.

Enjoy!

Q&A with Saxton Freymann

Caitlin: Are you a neighbor? How long have you lived in Bloomingdale?
Sax: My wife Mia Galison and I have been in Bloomingdale for 27 years. Our kids grew up here and loved the parade and the block festivities at Halloween.

Caitlin: How did you come to be involved in the annual Block Association Halloween event?
Sax: I don’t remember how many years ago or who originally asked me if I would contribute a pumpkin, but I have continued to do it ever since. When my books were coming out 15 or 20 years ago, I had a slightly higher profile.

Eye seed you, heh heh heh. Pumpkin carved by Saxton Freymann

Caitlin: You carve a mean pumpkin. What's the secret? Are eyes the window to a pumpkin's soul?
Sax: When I started doing books based on transforming fruits and vegetables, of course I had to include pumpkins. My approach is to use the natural form and do as little as possible to nudge it towards something it already resembles. This of course means that the stem is a nose…with some of my favorites I did not add eyes at all -- they are already implied in the wrinkles of the surface.

Out of my gourd! Pumpkin carved by Saxton Freymann

Caitlin: I understand you are fairly agnostic when it comes to vegetable carving, you'll carve anything! How did you get into food carving?
Sax: Many years ago my wife met a book designer and packager named Joost Elffers who wanted to do a book showing interesting things that could be done with food. He had already done a book in Europe along these lines and was looking to develop something more in sync with an American market. I got some produce, made a variety of things and sent him a bunch of pictures. That led to Play With Your Food, and the success of that book led to a series of children’s books with Arthur Levine at Scholastic.

Caitlin: Are you a vegetarian?
Sax: I am omnivorous.

Caitlin: So you eat the seeds!
Sax: I try to eat as much of the “waste" from my edible work as I can. When I was doing all the books my family would eat a lot of the day’s work. When I work with pumpkins, I often do not even cut through to the interior… so they last a bit longer.

Caitlin: How long do they last?
Sax: They generally do not last long, although I remember one that lasted for months! Most of what I do is about the final photographs.

Caitlin: How long does your traditional pumpkin take to carve?
Sax: It varies. I probably spend an hour or so on a pumpkin.

Caitlin: Jack O' Lantern or Pumpkin?
Sax: Pumpkin!

Caitlin: OK, but do you ever light your pumpkins from inside or is it all about the face?
Sax: My pumpkins are not lanterns. They are much more about the surface and the organic form.

Caitlin: Is there such a thing as carve-offs in the pumpkin sculpting world?
Sax: I have seen all sorts of competitive pumpkin carving over the years, featuring work with much more patience than I have. I am a very uncompetitive person, so that’s not for me.

Caitlin: Do you have any pumpkin trivia you'd like to share?
Sax: I don’t know if it still exists, but years ago there was an annual race on Glimmerglass Lake in Cooperstown, New York, in which competitors hollowed out and rowed enormous pumpkins. It was a remarkable and hilarious spectacle.

Many thanks to Sax for his indulgence here and for the many years of pumpkins at our tables. Readers curious to see more of Sax's work will also find his books How Are You Peeling? and Food Play in print. Also, scroll down for a short video with Sax. (If you are reading this post in your inbox, you need to go to the following link to see the video: www.w102-103blockassn.org/blog.

Because of the way the blog's subscription is delivered, certain elements like videos and embedded galleries don't make it to you inbox. When possible, it's always the safest bet to read the blog directly on the site at www.w102-103blockassn.org/blog. Remember, too, that you can always get to the blog post via your email subscription by clicking on the title of the post.

So if you missed it but want to see yesterday's Halloween gallery, go here or click on the image below, if you dare!

A Night Out in Boo-mingdale

By Caitlin Hawke

The Winter newsletter will soon be out and you can read the full recap of the hallowed eve of All Saints Day, vintage 2017. But while we're all waiting for the print version, here's a little gallery of what went down when the ghouls came out. I missed a lot of the munchin' munchkins, but you'll see in the empty platters and pans in the gallery that feast they did! A big thank you to the Block Association volunteers who worked on the Jane Gang this year, and to St. Luke's Addiction Institute's staff and residents who baked up a storm and helped pull it all together. This is a Jane Hopkins joint (red hat below). But she would be embarrassed not to share the spotlight with her fête accomplices -- some pictured, some not.

Block Association volunteers working on the Jane Gang, a hat tip to you all.

The Bloomingdale School of Music is Just One Go-To Source for Nearby Concerts

by Caitlin Hawke

Yes, it's a neighborhood institution especially if you are looking for lessons, but did you know that the Bloomingdale School of Music also has a nonstop series of concerts, most of which are free, that are just waiting for you? The concert schedule is here and some of BSM's November offerings are below.

In fact, there are lots of musical options nearby. Columbia's Miller Theatre has free pop-up concerts such as one on November 21st by Regional de NY, a Brazilian choro band.

St. Michael's Episcopal Church at 225 W. 99th Street offers choral, organ and piano concerts as well as the occasional opera (not to mention an interesting film series). There's a concert on November 26th, but it isn't free!

And don't forget Vita and Ishmael Wallace's Orfeo Duo! Their local concerts are here.

And finally, keep an eye out for Julia Spring's "Meet Your Talented Neighbors" column in the Block Association newsletter. Often, it features other musicians and their upcoming gigs, though not necessarily right nearby.

Friday, November 3rd7pm - 8pm Virtuosic Voice of the Violin: As part of Bloomingdale School of Music's FREE concert series, faculty artist Claudia Schaer presents a concert of virtuosic violin music spanning the years from 1893-2017. Two of the works were commission specifically for Claudia and will have their debut in violin/piano arrangement on this day. Bloomingdale School of Music (323 West 108th Street).

Saturday, November 11th7pm - 8pm Bernstein Brass Bash: As part of Bloomingdale School of Music's FREE concert series, BSM celebrates Leonard Bernstein's 100th anniversary in a concert featuring rarely heard works for brass instruments including a brilliant arrangement of music from West Side Story. Bloomingdale School of Music (323 West 108th Street).

Friday, November 17th7pm - 8pm Roots and Branches: Jazz Explorations on World Music Traditions: As part of Bloomingdale School of Music's FREE concert series, voice faculty member Jocelyn Medina and a quartet present a diverse program of music from India, Africa, and Brazil incorporated into her original jazz-based compositions. Bloomingdale School of Music (323 West 108th Street).

Saturday, November 18th3:00pm - 5:00pm Jazz Discovery Day Open Workshop: Learn to play jazz in a free, no-pressure group setting. All instruments, ages and abilities welcome! No prior experience or knowledge required. Performances by BSM faculty members, reception to follow. RSVP to llopez@bsmny.org. Bloomingdale School of Music (323 West 108th Street).

Almost Time for Our October 31st Parade and Party

A seasonally-appropriate collage by neighbor David Ochoa

By Caitlin Hawke

Tuesday is Halloween, so you all know what that means, yes?

To any kids reading, I am sympathetic since I understand this might mean you have to wait to use the bathroom mirror to apply your spooky facepaint. Your parents, too, will be busy getting their costumes on. But you are all gonna pull it together and meet up with your Block Association friends at the NW corner of West End Avenue and W. 102nd Street just before 6 p.m. when the parade steps off. If you miss the parade, just follow the squeals back to W. 102nd Street between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue for the party.

For galleries of parties past, see here and here. And look for the 2017 gallery in the coming couple of weeks.

See you out there and look for the Block Association volunteers, St. Luke's residence friends, and captain Jane Hopkins who make it all happen.

Thanks to neighbor David Ochoa who kindly allowed me to illustrate this post with his noir collage.

Wracked about Racks

By Caitlin Hawke

A couple of years ago, our neighborhood got its first infusion of CityRacks. I wrote about that here. Problem is they've become a victim of their own success. Seen on a rack that I wrote about was the note below. Like the houseguest who comes and squats on the living-room couch with no end in sight, bikes have been chained to the CityRack day in and out, leaving it unusable by others. And inviting terse notes of disapproval.

City policy is moving more and more to accommodating cyclists. It's quite remarkable how relatively more hospitable the city has become to biking in rather short order. (My inner cynic sniffs: "They don't have a choice if the pols aren't going to fix and invest in our infrastructure while encouraging so much new construction; biking is after all a great way to move people under their own steam.")

I am all for doing everything we can to have more people safely cycling, though e-bikes still leave me shaking my head. But for cycling to work here, we need to do a lot more. For example, more bike parking that is safe and accessible for our eco-rides is needed. More CityRacks for short-term lock ups. More space in work buildings and residences for locking up longer term. It's not just Citibikes that need docking. (And yes, I know, you don't want a dock near your building or your favorite bus stop. And it's all daunting the older you get. I am sympathetic. I am.)

But inevitably bikes will propagate. Politicians and the state have not made the subway attractive. Quite the contrary. My employer, a nearby university, recently informed the rank and file that our medical center subway stop will be closed (closed!) for a year for elevator replacement. This will send literally thousands of employees, patients, and even tenured faculty scampering to get to work via alternate modes.

It doesn't take a PhD to figure out that folks will have no choice as the subway degrades but to turn to their bikes, blades, Segways and hoverboards. Global warming and the MTA's continued abuse of straphangers will surely incite more to ride their two-wheelers. Unless Elon Musk, a hyperloop, or George Jetson comes to our rescue, this problem just isn't going away anytime soon.

So think locally, and act locally: if you live in a building with a good curbside spot, you can suggest new locations to the city for more racks. We'll get the ball rolling.

Unless Someone Like You Cares a Whole Awful Lot, Nothing is Going to Get Better.

By Caitlin Hawke

It's not.

Or so said Dr. Seuss's Lorax and his Once-ler, once woke.

Heaven knows we could use a Lorax or two nowadays. And on Saturday, we had 'em in spades.

Lorax-in-chief, Mark Schneiderman, got himself out of bed bright and early (when others were just coming home from their Friday night on the town), drove to Jersey, filled up on a tower of mulch bags, buckets of bulbs, Truffula seeds, munchkins and 'joe, and was on the avenue by 10 a.m. cheering on the crew and keeping them stoked with supplies, tending to tree wells.

He wasn't alone. Temma, Ferenc, Pat, Terence, Bettina, Cynthia, Celia and quite a few others were all out there channeling their inner-Lorax. Also, there were kids! I suspect some of the kids brought their folks instead of the other way around.

What can I say? The result speaks for itself.

Community spirit: it's not about what it is...it's about what it can become. A butterfly effect. Thanks to you all. See you on Spring Planting Day!

Photo credits: Celia Knight and Caitlin Hawke

Plant a new Truffula.
Treat it with care.
Give it clean water.
And feed it fresh air.
Grow a forest.
Protect it from
axes that hack.
Then the Lorax and all of
his friends may come back.

Faces of the Spring Block Party

By Caitlin Hawke

Today is the big day for our friends over at the W. 104th Street Block Association. But at least they are got some pre-event shut-eye without undue concern for a wet day. Mother Nature will be smiling on their endeavor as she did on ours in May.

Speaking of our block party in May, below is the much belated gallery I intended to get online far sooner. Interesting that looking at it shows how slowly Spring turned to Summer this year...recall that cool breeze that chilled our volunteers and kept vendors bundled up. But it was a great day and there were a lot of happy folks hanging out on W. 103rd.

Hope the 104th Street sale is just as much fun!

Here's a nod to all the tired feet that will be propped up on tables tonight and a round of applause to all those who made ours yet another memorable one!

Come on out from 10 am to 5 pm...the neighborhood block parties aren't the same without you!

Photo credit: Caitlin Hawke and Celia Knight

Bob Aaronson: How do you do it?

Hedy Campbell of the matching sneakers and apron getting a boost from her bullhorn hocking the split-pot raffle

A reward for getting to the bottom of this post: my automnal lagniappe along this same theme -- les feuilles morts se ramassent à la pelle -- is a beaut from Serge Gainsbourg covering his forebears in, yes again, the circle game of life marked by fallen leaves. Remember, for those of you reading this directly via your email subscription, click on the title of the post to see the video online.

Neighbors' Work to Be Represented in Borough President Brewer's "Better with Age"

By Caitlin Hawke

I once heard an interviewer ask painter Françoise Gilot (who is well into her 90s now) would she still paint as she ages. Affronted by the question, Madame Gilot responded something akin to: "That's like asking me if I will still breathe. I have been an artist all my life. Why would I stop now?"

I paraphrase but you get the idea.

Stupid question. Great answer.

Now comes an enlightened show from the Manhattan Borough President's Office entitled "Better with Age" featuring artwork from the city's older artists. And I am chuffed that two "hometown" artists have made the cut. Below find Emily Berleth's painting and Bob Lejeune's photograph, both of which will be presented in the show.

It runs from October 11 to November 1, 2017 at the Maggi Peyton Gallery in the Municipal Building downtown at 1 Centre Street, 19th Floor South.

An added neighborhood connection, in case you think 1 Centre Street isn't on my beat: Maggi Peyton died last year and was a Bloomingdaler. From a tribute written about her by Harold Holzer, I am certain blog readers will know her well and understand the rationale behind naming the Municipal Building's gallery in her honor:

"Famously tight-lipped about her bosses, politically sophisticated, intensely loyal, unflappably calm, and a brilliant vote counter in tight elections across the state, Ms. Peyton was also active in the West Side political club Community Free Democrats, and as president of the tenants’ association at Park West Village, her longtime residence."

For more information about the show, contact the Manhattan Borough President's Office. And keep your eyes on this space for news about Bloomingdale Aging in Place's "clothesline show" at the local hostel. It will feature works depicting the neighborhood done by members of the four BAiP art groups.

Age+Art. It ain't just gluing together popsicle sticks, folks.

Neighbor and Art Students League of New York painter Emily Berleth submitted the portrait above. It will be on view at Borough President Gale Brewer's exhibit "Better with Age."

Neighbor and photographer Bob Lejeune submitted the picture above which will also be in the show "Better with Age"

Wednesday, October 4, 2017, at 6:30 p.m.

By Caitlin Hawke

You've stumbled on wet-behind-the-ears and heavily-back-packed Europeans wandering out of the W. 103rd Street station trying to figure out whether to go left or right down the side street, desperately in search of "the hostel." I quickly approach them and say with big eyes and nodding head: "Youth Hostel? Is that what you are looking for?" Often they are relieved, sometimes shocked that a New Yorker has broken the fourth wall. But I remember my days of hostelling, juggling backpack, map, and new-city angst.

But how many of us have actually wandered the halls of this landmarked building, currently inhabited by Hostelling International? How many know the story of its preservation after a spectacular fire gutted it in the mid-1970s? And who knows its place in neighborhood history?

Tree News

By Caitlin Hawke

Well, woohoo! We got ourselves a new tree earlier in the summer on W. 102nd Street (outside of 254 W. 102nd St) between Broadway and West End. Terence Hanrahan snapped the whippersnapping beaut, a locust, I'd say. But feel free to correct me. So the city does get around to filling our tree-pits when the need presents. I have to say that walking around San Francisco over the summer, I missed our tree-lined streets. Yes, Frisco has a lot to offer. But shade isn't big among urban assets there. So thank you, NYC Parks. That kind of shade you may throw as much as you please.

Boo! Hiss! The ginkgo, victimized in the wee dark hours of an early Spring night in 2015, when madness hacked at its trunk, is now gasping for life. May shame shine long on the person whose ax killed it. And may the scent of gingko fruit be ever present in that neighbor's nostrils.

This brings me to a save the date: Mark Schneiderman will be out there for the Block Association's Fall Mulching Day on Saturday, October 14th from 10 a.m to noon. Meet up at 878 West End Avenue to help tidy up tree wells. And when you are there at the curb of 878, look up toward the gingko that is no more.

This Website is Your Go-To Source for Back Issues, Too!

Note to readers who subscribe by email: Our content management system for this blog is a little balky. I am reposting this piece on the newsletter since the top paragraph was left out of the version that appeared in your inboxes.

By Caitlin Hawke

The Fall 2017 issue of the Block Association's newsletter is now "live" online. You can get to the table of contents by way of this link and click through to articles of interest. It takes a small but powerful army to accomplish this quarterly endeavor. The writers mostly have bylines and may be known to you. But too invisible is the field marshal, Hedy Campbell. It wouldn't exist without her. She is the editor with Jacob Gross co-piloting as associate editor, and, trust me, they toil. Brad Spear does the considerable lift on graphic design. He, too, toils. The three of them deserve an ovation. Incredibly there must be 25 others who contribute to each issue, either as regular columnists or feature writers. If you like what you read, savor it as a very special, all-volunteer produced, labor of love for this community. An in admiration, don't forget to re-up your Block Association membership!

As you've read in past blog posts, this newsletter has been going strong since 1971. The inaugural issue and pieces from many issues since are highlighted in a regular blog feature called "One from the Vault" which you can get to by clicking that link under "Categories" at right (if you are reading this post online) or by clicking here if you receive blog posts directly to your email.

By the way, I have a big backlog to do on the blog, I realize. But do know that more treasures from the vault, more Throwback Thursdays: Bloomingdale Edition, and more It's Elemental features are all coming. But by trickle not by flood.

But back to the Fall 2017 newsletter. I wanted to draw your attention to a piece on BAiP's "Blooming Hour" written by Bob Neuman, which was erroneously credited to me in the print version and corrected here. It is Bob's writing and voice, not at all mine, despite that the Blooming Hour is near and dear to my heart as a key social gathering we run in the activities sector of Bloomingdale Aging in Place.

The whole newsletter is worth your giving it a once over. For example, I'd also point you to the piece on Hosteling International NYC because together with the ﻿Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group﻿, they have a great program coming up on October 4th at 6:30 p.m. on the history of the landmarked building at 891 Amsterdam Avenue and on the hostel itself. I'll try to post a reminder nearer the date.

Check out the current issue because there's much more on Fall Tree Well Clean Up Day (Oct. 14), National Night Out, business news, calls for your participation and art endeavors by talented neighbors. If you are in the catchment of the Block Association, you should have received your print copy this past week, hot off the press.

Saturday, September 23, 10 am - 5 pm

By Caitlin Hawke

Come one, come all. Art. Music. Flowers. Audrey. What else does one need in a local event in our very own, beautifully-maintained pocket park? Well maybe the old Schuyler Square (yes as in those Schuyler sisters father) isn't technically a pocket park, but you know what I mean.

Note the rain date. And don't forget to mark your calendar for the W. 104th Street Block Association Street Fair coming up on Saturday, October 14th!

This Website is Your Go-To Source for Back Issues, Too!

By Caitlin Hawke

The Fall 2017 issue of the Block Association's newsletter is now "live" online. You can get to the table of contents by way of this link and click through to articles of interest. It takes a small but powerful army to accomplish this quarterly endeavor. The writers mostly have bylines and may be known to you. But too invisible is the field marshal, Hedy Campbell. It wouldn't exist without her. She is the editor with Jacob Gross co-piloting as associate editor, and, trust me, they toil. Brad Spear does the considerable lift on graphic design. He, too, toils. The three of them deserve an ovation. Incredibly there must be 25 others who contribute to each issue, either as regular columnists or feature writers. If you like what you read, savor it as a very special, all-volunteer produced, labor of love for this community. An in admiration, don't forget to re-up your Block Association membership!

As you've read in past blog posts, this newsletter has been going strong since 1971. The inaugural issue and pieces from many issues since are highlighted in a regular blog feature called "One from the Vault" which you can get to by clicking that link under "Categories" at right (if you are reading this post online) or by clicking here if you receive blog posts directly to your email.

By the way, I have a big backlog to do on the blog, I realize. But do know that more treasures from the vault, more Throwback Thursdays: Bloomingdale Edition, and more It's Elemental features are all coming. But by trickle not by flood.

But back to the Fall 2017 newsletter. I wanted to draw your attention to a piece on BAiP's "Blooming Hour" written by Bob Neuman, which was erroneously credited to me in the print version and corrected here. It is Bob's writing and voice, not at all mine, despite that the Blooming Hour is near and dear to my heart as a key social gathering we run in the activities sector of Bloomingdale Aging in Place.

The whole newsletter is worth your giving it a once over. For example, I'd also point you to the piece on Hosteling International NYC because together with the ﻿Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group﻿, they have a great program coming up on October 4th at 6:30 p.m. on the history of the landmarked building at 891 Amsterdam Avenue and on the hostel itself. I'll try to post a reminder nearer the date.

Check out the current issue because there's much more on Fall Tree Well Clean Up Day (Oct. 14), National Night Out, business news, calls for your participation and art endeavors by talented neighbors. If you are in the catchment of the Block Association, you should have received your print copy this past week, hot off the press.

Attend the Cinematic Upper West Side Cityscape of Woody Allen on Thursday, 9/14

By Caitlin Hawke

Dear Readers, here's a special offer just for you. This Thursday, September 14th, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Landmark West! is presenting "The Cinematic Cityscape of Woody Allen" in its Wild Wild West on Film Series at the screening room at Macaulay Honors College, 35 W. 67th Street. Two for one tickets means if you buy one $20 ticket your guest goes for free. There's more information about this event below. But follow these instructions carefully to claim your offer:

Click here or if that doesn't work, go to this link: https://landmarkwest.ticketspice.com/the-cinematic-cityscape-of-woody-allen-the-wild-wild-west-side-on-film.

Where it says "choose an event," pull the menu down to "Woody Allen Sept 14"

Select the "LW! Member Program" and enter "2" people; then fill in your names and emails and scroll down to the area that says "Use Coupon Code here." Enter "Bloom" in that box and hit the green "Apply" button. That will bring your total down to $19 for two tickets. Enter your credit card information and you should be all set.

If you have any trouble or questions, contact Andra Moss at Landmarks West!

My suggestion to you is to grab another woman, an irrational man (or whatever works) and take the money and run because the sweet and lowdown on this event is that it's a September sleeper about Manhattan interiors and exteriors that husbands and wives and small time crooks alike will enjoy. However some of us are over Woody. But that's a whole other New York story. Enjoy.

Pomander Walk between 94th and 95th Streets off West End Avenue in "Hannah and Her Sisters"

Here's a description of the event from the Landmark West! website:

Woody Allen’s uniquely romantic and comically inventive use of the Upper West Side and its charms is at the thematic heart of some of his most iconic NYC films, including Annie Hall, Manhattan, and Hannah and Her Sisters. From the fabulous façades of the Ansonia and Alwyn Court to rambling Upper West Side interiors (oh those libraries!), it is clear that the UWS is a star all its own in Allen’s cityscape.

The Thalia in "Annie Hall"

Speaker: Paula Uruburu, Professor of English and Film Studies at Hofstra University, is our guide for a cinefantastic tour of New York’s Upper West Side, as seen through the nostalgic and neurotic lens of NYC’s quintessential filmmaker, circa 1977-1986.
She received her Ph.D. from SUNY Stony Brook in English in 1983 with specializations in American literature, film studies and drama. Her last book, American Eve, tells the story of the meteoric rise to fame and the tragic consequences of Gibson Girl Evelyn Nesbit's fated relationships with famed architect Stanford White and murderer Harry Thaw. She is currently finishing a book on the infamous Lizzie Borden. Dr. Uruburu has acted as a consultant to A&E, PBS, the History Channel, and the Smithsonian Channel.

Sun-Chan Does It Again

By Caitlin Hawke

Hyper Local Eats came about as a way to praise our neighborhood's eateries (prior posts are all here). The idea was to raise up one special -- very special -- dish, here and there. To shout out to our nearby purveyors that their kitchen efforts are relished. And to tip the hat to real, unpretentious, local vittles.

In some ways it is getting harder to write this feature. The dining experience can be so antithetical to enjoyment in a boom boom economy where waitstaff has to upsell to survive. Authentic and lowkey are the first qualities to go.

The key: one perfect and peeled tomato

So why when I see "Serafina" -- which in its very name assures me that all will be fine, if not angelic -- do I fret?

But fret I do. The idea of it sends me running back to the comfort of Sun-Chan, a one-off homey joint that in decor is all about its plain-janeness and in its food is umami-central.

So as late summer's bounty comes in fast and furious, today is another ode to Sun-Chan and specifically to Kumiko's tomato salad.

Five round leaves of spinach to line the plate. One perfect tomato peeled and wedged. A sprinkling of sweet onion bits strewn like daisy petals over the tomato. All "napped" as the French say, or coated in a gingery soy dressing. It's not just scrumptious, it's also beautiful, arranged on the plate like a juicy rose.

The naked truth about a peeled tomato? It's an entirely different beast. Make it a perfectly ripe one and dash it with salt. Then you're talking heaven on a plate.

If I go to Sun Chan with someone, I order it, insisting it's a must try. But then I secretly sit and stew that I have to share it.

You'll have to go yourself and with luck you'll be all alone. And with more luck the naked tomato will be on the specials board. If Lady Luck smiles, all eight wedges will be yours.

More Reflections of Eclipse 2017

By Caitlin Hawke

A big thank you to Ozzie Alfonso for the three local images below. The first attests once again to that spontaneity and community and wonder we felt last Monday. The second two show that Ozzie is a real photographer with equipment that enabled him to get a decent shot. And he shot it coming and going. The shot at bottom right is prize worthy.

Got any more? Send them along: blog@w102-103blockassn.org.

Neighbors gathered on the SE corner of West End Avenue and W. 102nd Street for Eclipse 2017 (Photos: O. Alfonso)

Free Events!

By Caitlin Hawke

This one speaks for itself, and it's relatively local. Check out "Harlem in the 1960s: Civil Rights & Black Power" on Saturday, September 9th at 11 a.m. at the Harry Belafonte branch on 115th Street. Find details in the flyer below. Hope some of you get to go!

Reason #973 to love the NYPL would be this month's announcement that the library is now streaming a huge back catalogue of films. Learn more here. You need a library card and an internet connection.

It Seems a Few People in Our Midst May Have

By Caitlin Hawke

But not these guys. These neighbors viewed the galactic event from the NW corner of W. 105th Street and Broadway and were captured by shutterbug Bob Lejeune who kindly allowed me to post this shot. My favorite thing about it -- other than the optical illusion that everyone is looking straight at the verboten partial eclipse -- is the woman second from the right who is, herself, eclipsed. Not to scale of course. But here goes. Guy in white? A metaphor for us all looking up from the earth. He is our planet. Guy in blue? The moon. And young woman behind...well she's the brilliant sun semi-eclipsed star that all the others turn their backs to so powerful is her partial light.

If you have any good shots of that phenomenal ambiance we all felt out there on the street in our child-like wonderment, send 'em along. I will post anything related to the eclipse that is nearby.

It was a good week that reminded me of how puny the third rock from the sun is. And of the majesty of our central star.

By the way, you'll thank me for the outro. Scroll down. And remember if you are reading this in an email subscription, you have to click through to the blog by clicking on the blog title above for my lagniappe du jour. Try not to smile!!